sick day, er...week

Well, our 2017 is off to a bit of a second rate start. Not awful, just not first rate.

First, Wells got sick. My happy little guy was just not quite himself and when daycare called to tell me he was "just so sad" I knew something was up. Turns out he had a double ear infection. Ick! Thankfully his course of antibiotics have worked wonders on him and he's back to normal again.

A few days after that call from daycare, Elia started coughing like crazy one night. The next night, it was worse and barky so I suspected croup. I took her to the doctor the next morning and they thought it was just a bad cold. We hunkered down for a sick day from school with lots of snuggles and rest time. Three full days of fever later, we were back at the doctor and it turns out she has pneumonia. Oof.

I'm so glad we went back though because she's now on antibiotics too and clearly starting to feel much better. She ended up missing school all week and we are all hoping she can get back into her routine come Monday morning.

Fridays are my day off so both kids were home with me yesterday for the first time since Elia started MWF preschool this fall. I knew we weren't going to do anything major today since she's still recovering but we needed something new to do that would be fun for both kids. Enter cloud dough.

Have you heard of this stuff? It's basically extra soft homemade play dough. I whipped up a batch in about two minutes and let the kids go to town.

I gave them measuring cups and spoons, playdough tools, and muffin tins and they went to town. You guys, it doesn't sound like much but Wells played nicely with this for over 10 minutes. That's a long time for my busy boy! Elia was occupied for close to 45 minutes and would have played long if she weren't distracted by the prospect of lunch. (Another good sign she's starting to feel better.)

The only downside of the cloud dough was that it was really messy. I used baking sheets and will definitely use something deeper next time. Actually, to be honest, I'll probably wait to try it again until we can use it outside. But hey, my cleaning lady failed to show up for the second week in a row so my floor needed to be cleaned anyway. 😉

To make your own cloud dough follow this incredibly simple recipe.

8 cups flour

1 cup vegetable oil* 

Combine flour and vegetable in a large bowl, mix well. Transfer dough to large, shallow tub or baking dish with tall sides.

*Baby oil works too but stick with the vegetable oil if your kids are prone to tasting things.

Let me know if you try cloud dough, it's really fun. Until then, wish us healthier days ahead!